Terrible 2s!

I think the era of the terrible two's has arrived!

Somewhat early for Madison, but our little princess seems capable of expressing her wants very clearly. And loudly too. So its an ongoing daily negotiation with her, although the grandparents tend to give in more readily.

Yesterday was a busy Sunday. Well, busy by pre-baby standards. No relaxed late morning brunch, cuppa coffee etc... we were all up by 7 am( as usual ). First stop, the Singapore Botanic Gardens for brekkie. The gardens is a really wonderful place to bring kids, with its lush greenery a break from the scorching Singapore sun, huge fish to feed, plenty of people ( and dog ) watching, fantastic Casa Verde cafe, close to us and its free!

So Chris, Madison and I had our breakfast, the fish in the pond had theirs, and by the time the sun was high in the sky we were ready to go home. All this before 930AM!

Feeling ambitious, we decided to take Madison to the zoo. A new section recently opened, the Rainforest Kids world. I'd heard raves about the wet water park so thought we should go check it out first. So... Madison had a quick bath by daddy, while I packed her lunch and the 2 adults managed to squeeze our shower between us.

AND no wonder the place was so raved about. It was FANTASTIC! The water play area made the Jacob gardens at the Botanic Gardens seem tiny! Madison didn't get to play in it yesterday but I think we will return another day better prepared. The large rubber play area had water CANNONS, water slides, ringing bells and a giant pail like contraption that was suspended, and repeatedly filled with water until it spilled its contents in a tsunami like fashion over the screaming kids.

The rest of the park had goats and miniature ponies for the kids to pet at various times of the day. There were at least 4 mini playground areas spread around the park. My only gripe was the lack of decent child friendly food, apart from the usual suspects of KFC and Ben & Jerry's.

Of course Madison was exhausted by the end of it and I barely had time to squeeze in her lunch before she crashed asleep in the car. So, thinking we could transfer her to a stroller while we ate lunch somewhere else, we continued out. Unfortunately the minute we were seated in Cedele, just about to place our orders her eyes fluttered open and my heart sank. Sigh. No leisurely lunch. Shortened nap... which meant she needed another one to tide her over to dinner.

But... Madison had fun, and she was happy... we'd spent a pretty fulfilling day as a family...never mind that dinner was another battle that day, the grandparents drove us up the wall and dinner was sweaty and quick.

And in a blink of an eye, its Monday, and order is restored. Or so we hope.